The Soldotna girls basketball team defeated Lumen Christi 50-42 on Thursday in the opening round of the Lady Grizzly Hardwood Classic at Grace Christian to improve to 8-9 overall.

The Stars will face Grace in the semifinals tonight at 8:15 p.m.

Josie Sheridan poured in 24 points to lead the Stars, while Katelyn Morrison had nine, Kaytlin McAnelly had nine, Annie Burns had six and Anaulie Sedivy had two.

Emily Ross had 19 for Lumen, while Natalie Grubba had 15 and Amara Warren had eight.

The Nikiski girls lost 58-24 to Monroe Catholic to fall to 5-11 overall. Nikiski will play Tikigaq today at 3 p.m. in the fourth-sixth place bracket.

Savanna Stock, Maggie Grenier and Ashlynne Playle all had four for Nikiski, while Ember Nelson had three, Avery Ellis, Kailey Stynsberg, Jessica Perry and Emma Weeks had two, and Brooke Abel had one. Shannel Kovalsky paced the Rams with 15.

45th Annual Valdez Elks Tournament

The Seward girls won and the Seward boys lost on the opening day of the tournament.

The Seahawks girls beat Cordova 50-18 to improve to 10-2. Renee Elhard paced Seward with 14, while Hailey Ingalls and Natalie Sieminski each had 10, and Ava Jagielski and Lena Jagielski each had eight. Shaunessi Schandel paced the Wolverines with six.

The Seward boys started the tournament with a 43-37 loss to North Pole to fall to 4-7. The Patriots led 13-5 after a quarter, 22-19 at the half and 31-28 after three quarters.

Nick Ambrosiani and Ben Ambrosiani each led the Seahawks with 12, while Ozzy Deel and Kupono Albino had four, Bergen Davis had three, and Van Shank and Jerick Senecal each had one.

The Seward boys face Delta in the fourth-place bracket today at 9 a.m. The Seward girls get the Redington-Valdez winner in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m.

Homer Winter Carnival

The Homer girls opened up the tournament with a 38-26 victory over Kotzebue to move to 4-10 overall.

Bethany Engebretsen paced Homer with 11 points, while Channing Lowney had eight, Minadora Reutov, Lawson Alexson and Gracie Miotke had four, Sydney Shelby had three, and Hannah Stonorov and Emily Owens had two.

Zaina McConnell paced Kotzebue with seven.

The Homer boys lost to Kotzebue 67-61 to fall to 2-13 overall.

Morgan Techie had 18 for Homer, while Nathan Overson had 13, Riley Hoffman had 10, Lucas Story had eight, Lance Seneff had six, Trent Fell had five and Theo McDonough had one.

Zach Roetman, Tyran Lane and Devin Sheldon all had 13 for Kotzebue.

In other tournament action, the Bethel girls defeated Houston 54-53 and the Houston boys defeated Bethel 72-42.